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I have been in the past; currently I consult part time, so that's both (a) fully burdened, and (b) not the rate I'd choose if I still wanted 1'800 hours/year.

I have been in the past; currently I consult part time, so that's both (a) fully burdened, and (b) not the rate I'd choose if I still wanted 1'800 hours/year. Chop it down by a factor of 2-4, and the question still remains: is $250 significant compared to the amount of work you're going to have to do to be competitive in the PDF-document processing space? (for quick hacks, reverse engineering is good enough. you only need the standard once you're processing enough client documents that you need to know all about the long tail of possible but unlikely constructs your code may encounter, after all)

andai 2y ago
The answer is yes. It's a lot of money for what it is. ISO is the international standards organization. A software developer in Indonesia earns $500 per month. Half your salary for one document is indeed a lot.
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Wow. True; it probably doesn't help that ISO HQ is in Geneva. How much is 500g emping for you all? From a swiss source it's $25. That might give us a rough idea of price differentials... [This is all moot though, because the PDF standard is available gratis.]
  - gradschoolfail 2y ago
    ISO docs seem to me to be one of those club antigoods.. paying for them doesnt necessarily make them less destructive (dependent on timescales tho, i do believe that standards are an unalloyed good if they are patched with a timeconstant low compared to what standards bodies consider optimal)
andai 2y ago
Also, could I ask for advice to increase my hourly rate? Mine is closer to $25. Granted I am in Europe, so the ceiling here will be quite different, but I'd love to hear how you did that! I hear (even for those based in US) that location plays a huge part, but even so, I assume specialization also played a big part?
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Yes, specialisation over decades. Perhaps almost as important: I started in the US, and still work almost exclusively for US clients. In a world where I can work almost as easily 12 time zones away as 2, I'm not sure why these huge continental disparities still exist, but they do.

andai 2y ago

The answer is yes. It's a lot of money for what it is. ISO is the international standards organization. A software developer in Indonesia earns $500 per month. Half your salary for one document is indeed a lot.

082349872349872 2y ago
Wow. True; it probably doesn't help that ISO HQ is in Geneva. How much is 500g emping for you all? From a swiss source it's $25. That might give us a rough idea of price differentials... [This is all moot though, because the PDF standard is available gratis.]
- gradschoolfail 2y ago
  ISO docs seem to me to be one of those club antigoods.. paying for them doesnt necessarily make them less destructive (dependent on timescales tho, i do believe that standards are an unalloyed good if they are patched with a timeconstant low compared to what standards bodies consider optimal)

andai 2y ago

Also, could I ask for advice to increase my hourly rate? Mine is closer to $25. Granted I am in Europe, so the ceiling here will be quite different, but I'd love to hear how you did that! I hear (even for those based in US) that location plays a huge part, but even so, I assume specialization also played a big part?

082349872349872 2y ago
Yes, specialisation over decades. Perhaps almost as important: I started in the US, and still work almost exclusively for US clients. In a world where I can work almost as easily 12 time zones away as 2, I'm not sure why these huge continental disparities still exist, but they do.